Round 8: Benjamin Caumes vs. Antoine Ruel

Mark Wraith

Game 1

Neither player had a spectacular start. Benjamin played first and made a second turn Aquamoeba, but with no relevant madness cards it only swung for one on turn three. Ruel made a Compulsion and Counterspelled Merfolk Looter.

Caumes drew Arrogant Wurm on turn four and tried to madness it into play with the Aquamoeba. Antoine used his Compulsion once without finding another counter and it resolved. He compulsed again on turn four after Caumes summoned a Wild Mongrel, then dropped his hand of four lands and a Compulsion on the table, as the Wurm and Aquamoeba would kill him on Benjamin's next turn

Caumes' draw contained only land and Circular Logics, so neither player cast a spell until Antoine's turn five, when he attempted a Compulsion. He didn't play his land first, which meant that Caumes could Logic it. After the game Antoine said "I wanted him to counter it so I could resolve Concentrate, but perhaps it wasn't right."

Caumes did him a big favor by playing Merfolk Looter, finally giving Ruel a target for his Persuasion. Unfortunately this left Antoine with enough mana to counter a Roar of the Wurm. Ruel bought himself one more turn with Engineered Plague on Insects killing Gigapede, but after chumping with the Looter for a turn, he didn't find any answer to the 6/6.

Final Result: Benjamin Caumes defeats Antoine Ruel 2 – 0

After the game Antoine talked a little about his Tog deck. It has an interesting combination of creature removal and card drawing. He only has eight creature kill, four Innocent Blood and four Smother, where a lot of people have nine. There isn't any spot kill in the sideboard as such (apart from Ghastly Demise which is not boarded in but left as a Wish target), but he does have three each of Engineered Plague and Persuasion. He explained that he preferred Engineered Plague to things such as Chainer's Edict and Callous Oppressor. For card drawing he plays both Deep Analysis and two Concentrates, with the fourth Deep in the sideboard to give him a better matchup against control. "I have played a lot of Tog, and this is the version I think is best."